Twenty dynamic and exciting Irish fiction authors feature in a new initiative from the An Post Irish Book Awards called ‘New Voices 20 Best New Irish Writers’.
Focused on showcasing a new generation of incredible Irish writers who are reshaping the literary landscape with their fresh perspectives and captivating storytelling, the list was curated through nominations from publishers, booksellers and librarians nationwide.
This new wave of Irish writers is infusing the literary landscape with vibrant voices that blend tradition with modernity. Their sharp, insightful prose has garnered much acclaim, resonating with both Irish and global audiences. This new literary talent is not only preserving Ireland’s rich storytelling heritage, but also pushing its boundaries, making contemporary Irish literature even more dynamic and globally relevant than ever before.
The nominated authors could be working in any genre of fiction, must have had no more than two books published over the past decade, and be Irish by birth, citizenship or long-term residence. A panel of literary experts then selected the 20 authors, highlighting some of the most exciting new talents in contemporary literature.
The list, of which there is no overall winner, will also be promoted nationwide in bookshops and libraries during September to celebrate the 20 authors ahead of the An Post Irish Book Awards 2024 campaign.
The 20 authors featured in this collection, in alphabetical order, are:
Aingeala Flannery
Aingeala Flannery is a writer and broadcaster. Her critically acclaimed debut novel The Amusements was published by Penguin Sandycove in 2022. She is also the current writer-in-residence at Dublin City University.
Alan Murrin
Alan Murrin is an Irish fiction writer based in Berlin. In 2021 he was the winner of the Bournemouth Writing Prize for his short story The Wake, which was later shortlisted for Short Story of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. He is a graduate of the prose fiction masters at the University of East Anglia and also writes for the Irish Times, Times Literary Supplement and Spectator.
Cathy Sweeney
Cathy Sweeney is a writer living in Ireland. Her short fiction has been published in the Stinging Fly, the Dublin Review, Egress, Winter Papers, Banshee and the Tangerine, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her debut short story collection, Modern Times, was published in 2020.
Catríona Lally
Caitríona Lally is the recipient of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature (2018) and a Lannan Fellowship for Fiction (2019). In October 2021, she was announced as the inaugural Rooney Writer Fellow at Trinity Long Room Hub. Her first novel, Eggshells, was shortlisted for Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards in 2015. Wunderland, her second novel, was published by New Island Books in 2021.
Claire Coughlan
Claire Coughlan worked as a journalist in Ireland for many years. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from UCD and lives in Co Kildare with her husband and daughter. Where They Lie is her debut novel.
Colin Walsh
Colin Walsh’s short stories have won several awards including the RTE Francis MacManus Short Story Prize and the Hennessy Literary Award. In 2019 he was named Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year. Kala is his first novel and was a number one bestseller. He is from Galway and lives in Belgium.
Disha Bose
Disha Bose was born and raised in India, and has lived in Calcutta, London, and Dublin. She worked in the tech industry before joining the Masters in creative writing programme at University College Dublin. She now lives in Cork, Ireland. Dirty Laundry is her debut novel.
Ferdia Lennon
Ferdia Lennon was born in Dublin to an Irish mother and Libyan father. He holds a BA in History and Classics from University College Dublin and an MA in Prose Fiction from the University of East Anglia. In 2019 and 2021, he received a Literature Bursary Award from the Arts Council of Ireland. After spending many years in Paris, he now lives in Norwich with his wife and son.
Fíona Scarlett
Fíona Scarlett is from Dublin but now lives in Co. Kildare with her husband and two children. She holds an MLitt in creative writing from the University of Glasgow as well as a masters in early childhood education. She works full time as a primary school teacher and Boys Don’t Cry is her debut novel.
Louise Kennedy
Louise Kennedy grew up a few miles from Belfast. She is the author of the Women’s Prize Longlisted novel, Trespasses, and the acclaimed short story collection, The End of the World is a Cul de Sac, and is the only woman to have been shortlisted twice for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award (2019 and 2020). Before starting her writing career, she spent nearly thirty years working as a chef. She now lives in Sligo.
Louise Nealon
Louise Nealon studied English literature at Trinity College Dublin, and then completed a masters in creative writing at Queen’s University Belfast in 2016. She lives on her family farm in County Kildare. Snowflake is her first novel and was the biggest-selling debut in Ireland, winning Newcomer of the Year at the 2021 An Post Irish Book Awards.
Megan Nolan
Megan Nolan was born in Waterford, Ireland and is currently based in New York. For her debut novel, Acts of Desperation, Nolan was the recipient of a Betty Trask Award, shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award and longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Ordinary Human Failings was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Michael Magee
Michael Magee is the fiction editor of the Tangerine and a graduate of the creative writing PhD programme at Queen’s University, Belfast. Close to Home is his first novel and won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature 2023.
Michelle Gallen
Michelle Gallen grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a few miles from the border. She studied English Literature at Trinity College Dublin and Publishing at Stirling University. Her debut novel, Big Girl, Small Town was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. Her critically acclaimed second novel, Factory Girls, won the Comedy Women in Print award and was shortlisted for the RSL Encore Award. Both books are being adapted for TV.
Naoise Dolan
Naoise Dolan is an Irish writer born in Dublin. Her debut novel Exciting Times was a Sunday Times bestseller, widely translated, and optioned for TV. She won the 2021 Hawthornden Prize and has been shortlisted and longlisted for several other prizes. She now lives in Berlin.
Niamh Campbell
Niamh Campbell’s debut novel This Happy was nominated for the An Post Irish Book Awards, the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, the John McGahern Book Prize and the Kate O’Brien Award. In 2020 she also won the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award for Love Many. In 2021, Campbell won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. She lives and works in Dublin.
Nicole Flattery
Nicole Flattery is the author of the story collection Show Them a Good Time. She is the winner of the An Post Irish Book Award, the Kate O’Brien Prize, the London Magazine Prize for Debut Fiction, and the White Review Short Story Prize. A graduate of the master’s program in creative writing at Trinity College, she lives in Dublin, Ireland.
Noel O’Regan
Noel O’Regan is from Tralee, Co. Kerry. A recipient of an Arts Council Next Generation Artist Award, his debut novel, Though the Bodies Fall (Granta Books, 2023), was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction, the John McGahern Book Prize and Newcomer of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards.
Sheila Armstrong
Sheila Armstrong is a writer and editor from the north-west of Ireland. How to Gut a Fish, her first collection of short stories, was shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award and longlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. Falling Animals, her debut novel, was chosen for BBC2’s Between The Covers Book Club and shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize.
Una Mannion
Una Mannion is based in County Sligo Ireland. Her debut novel A Crooked Tree made the Irish bestsellers list, was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards and the Dalkey Emerging Writer Award and won the Kate O’Brien Prize. Her second novel Tell Me What I Am was shortlisted for the Encore Awards and was the winner of the prestigious Gold Dagger at the CWA Dagger Awards. In September 2024, Una joins the Oscar Wilde Centre and English Department at Trinity College Dublin teaching creative writing.
The judging panel consisted of:
- Maria Dickenson, Chairperson of the judging panel and Irish Book Awards board member
- Angus Laverty, Public Affairs Manager at An Post
- Breda Brown, Chair of the Irish Writers Centre
- Dawn Behan, President of the Irish Booksellers Association
- Eileen Morrissey, President of the Library Association of Ireland
- Madeleine Keane, Literary Editor of the Sunday Independent
- Sinéad Mac Aodha, Executive Director at Literature Ireland
Maria Dickenson, Chairperson of the judging panel and an Irish Book Awards board member, says: “We are delighted to continue supporting Irish writers, and, this year, to present 20 of the most promising names in Irish literature through the New Voices initiative. As a nation of storytellers, Ireland has an incredible level of writing talent which was showcased through the vast range of amazing authors submitted for this initiative.
Irish writing is in great hands with this new generation of authors selected for New Voices. We look forward to celebrating them in the weeks to come, and at our awards ceremony this November.”
David McRedmond, CEO of An Post, says “I have always loved the connection between the writers we champion and the community of publishers, booksellers and readers that has grown up around the An Post Irish Book Awards. Now we are taking it a stage further and saying ‘Just take a look at what’s next’.
Here’s to the next wave of writers meeting readers, the magic continues.”
Now in its 19th year, the An Post Irish Book Awards celebrate and promote Irish writing to the widest range of readers possible. The initiative brings together a vast community passionate about books – readers, authors, booksellers, publishers and librarians – to recognise the very best of new and established Irish writing talent and 2024 will be no different.
Categories in the An Post Irish Book Awards include Novel of the Year, Children’s (Junior and Senior), Cookery, Crime Fiction, Popular Fiction, Non-fiction, Sports, Short Story, Poetry, Teen and Young Adult and Irish Language.
The shortlist for this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards will be announced in late October, with the awards ceremony taking place on November 27th. A television programme will be broadcast on RTÉ One television in December, culminating in one of the 2024 winning titles being announced as the ‘An Post Irish Book of the Year 2024’.
